*Without “Empire” to wait around for, ratings for Wednesday’s “American Idol” went into free fall.
Two weeks ago, when “Empire” was on fire, “Idol” pulled almost 10 million viewers and a 2.7 in the key 18-49 demo (the most important measure to advertisers).
Last night “Idol” dropped to a mere 8.34 million total viewers, and a 1.7 in the key demo.
Apparently, no Cookie, no “Idol.”
Folks missed out on 80s night, with David Hasselhoff, Salt-N-Pepa and Culture Club’s Boy George recruited for ambiance. Afterwards, the former Culture Club frontman admitted backstage he doesn’t know how his band would’ve fared competing on a show like “Idol.”
“I can’t say for sure what would happen if we were to kind of go on a show like this. I mean I don’t know where that would work for us,” he said. “But, I think if your heart’s in it, you’ll always get noticed because you just, I can’t do anything else.”
Side note: Fox may want to start finding ways to incorporate “Empire” as much as possible until its May finale. Would more people have watched on Wednesday had it been 90s night and “Empire” co-star Courtney Love mentored the contestants? Or if Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard were invited to sing one of Lucious and Cookie’s songs from one of their 90s flashbacks?
Just some thoughts for next season.
In the meantime, J.Lo, who began her rise to superstardom just as the 80s ended, told us how she remembered the decade.
Below: The one time “Idol” did use “Empire.” Henson, Smollett and Bryshere Gray paid a visit a week before their two-part season finale:
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